Stocks declined for a third day on Wall Street Wednesday as investors waited for signs of progress on the "fiscal cliff." / Henny Ray Abrams, AP

by The Editorial Board, USA TODAY

by The Editorial Board, USA TODAY

One month before the nation reaches the so-called fiscal cliff, you'd think everyone in Washington would grasp the seriousness of the stakes and the urgency of reaching a deal.

Instead, an alarming number of people, nearly all of them liberals, are declaring that going over the cliff wouldn't be so bad after all.

These "cliff divers," as they are known, are right about two things. One is that the cliff - the abrupt tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to take effect in early January - is more of a cascade than a catastrophic Thelma & Louise moment. The other is that once the tax increases kick in on Jan. 1, Republicans will have more political cover to reach an agreement on revenue. They'll be cutting taxes from new levels rather than raising them from the old ones.

But these are hardly convincing reasons for delay.

For one thing, uncertainty about taxes and spending is already hurting the economy. Business leaders, financial markets and consumers are hunkering down in fear that Washington won't be able to agree in time to avoid the cliff. The longer the uncertainty lasts, the worse the impact.

While spending cuts and tax hikes are needed to rein in federal deficits, having them kick in all at once would be like a drug overdose that plunges the economy into a new recession, according to the Congressional Budget Office and independent economists. There are also the huge practical difficulties of going past the Dec. 31 deadline, such as trying to figure out how much tax to withhold from workers' paychecks when no one knows what tax rates will be.

Some of the wisest heads in Washington think the cliff divers - who include incoming Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash. - are playing a dangerous game.

Erskine Bowles, former co-chair of President Obama's deficit-reduction commission, told reporters Wednesday that "it would be insane to breach this fiscal cliff."

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned in a speech last week that fear of the cliff is already having "adverse effects on the economy," and that it's crucial "to deliver a reasonable solution with a minimum of uncertainty and delay."

Allow us to translate:

Washington's mulish refusal to compromise is already hurting an economy that's still crawling away from four years of misery. If Congress can't agree to a serious deal soon, its ineptitude will cause more pain to people and businesses. Get your act together!

It's the nature of democracy that tough decisions tend to happen only under duress. But recent history shows how much harder it has become to do the most important stuff.

In September 2008, despite pleading by Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and President Bush, the House rejected an emergency plan to shore up shaky U.S. financial institutions. The Dow fell 777 points, its largest one-day point drop ever. Chastened, the House passed a bank plan four days later.

Then last year, House Republicans dragged their feet on raising the debt limit until the last possible minute, unnerving financial markets and casting further doubts on Washington's ability to handle its finances.

The fiscal cliff offers yet another chance for Democrats and Republicans in Washington to cut a deal in the national interest. Whether they will is uncertain, but this much is clear: Jumping off the cliff will only make a bad situation worse.

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